Precious metals were the session’s clear weak spot. Palladium fell 2.58% to 942.98, platinum dropped 1.74% to 1,417.52 and silver lost 1.64% to 49.79 β€” the three steepest declines on the board.

Metals

The slide extended a rough run across the complex. Palladium is now down 19.94% on the month, platinum 17.44% and silver 18.26%. Silver still clings to a 5.77% gain over the year, while platinum sits 7.48% lower. Gold eased 0.50% to 3,928.29, leaving it down 4.98% on the month and essentially flat across twelve months at -0.16%.

Crypto

Digital assets ran the other way, filling out the day’s gainer list. XRP led the covered names, up 3.03% to 1.2849, with Solana adding 2.08% to 93.67, Tezos 2.01% and Ethereum 1.92% to 2,292.23. Bitcoin rose 1.48% to 77,803.19, Dogecoin 1.76% to 0.0752 and Litecoin 1.90% to 54.62.

The bounce sits against a heavy month. Solana is down 22.39% over thirty days, Ethereum 15.39%, XRP 14.70% and Bitcoin 9.27%, so the green session did little to dent the longer decline. Cardano, up 1.17% to 0.1903, remains 63.41% lower on the year.

Indices

US equities split. The Nasdaq 100 closed up 0.74% at 28,279.97 and the S&P 500 added 0.33% to 7,578.70, while the Dow slipped 0.59% to 51,714.33. Even after the rebound, the Nasdaq is 4.20% lower on the week and 9.07% down on the month, and the S&P 500 sits 2.58% below where it started the month.

Europe lagged. The FTSE 100 fell 1.54% to 10,604.64, the day’s weakest major index, with Spain’s IBEX 35 off 0.78% and the DAX 40 down 0.28%. The Nikkei 225 bucked the tone, rising 0.70% to 63,103.80 and holding a 24.60% gain on the year.

Currencies and Energy

The dollar firmed at the margins. USD/JPY rose 0.51% to 158.72 and USD/MXN climbed 1.41% to 18.829, the day’s biggest FX mover. The Australian dollar was soft, with AUD/USD down 0.49% to 0.69642, while EUR/USD held flat at 1.11891 and GBP/USD barely moved at 1.34125.

Crude held firm on the day but not the week. USOil rose 0.59% to 96.03 and UKOil edged up 0.08% to 103.65, yet both are down around 5% over the past week.

Into the Asian handover, metals remain the session’s soft spot, with palladium, platinum and silver all finishing near the bottom of the board.